How Much Should Medicare Pay for Prescription Drugs?

It was dueling reports yesterday on Capitol Hill, as Democrats argued that Medicare is paying way too much for prescription drugs and Republicans countered that the spending is on target. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House oversight committee and a longtime critic of the Medicare Part D drug benefit, led the Democratic offensive. “Medicare Part D has given the major drug companies a taxpayer-funded windfall worth billions of dollars,” he said yesterday. His committee released this report, which looked at drug costs for so-called “dual eligible” patients whose drug coverage was switched from Medicaid to Medicare in 2006. The report found that Medicare Part D pays 30% more for drugs than Medicaid, a discrepancy worth more than $3.7 billion for drugmakers in ‘06 and ‘07. Not to be outdone, the Republicans on the committee come... [read full story]